Rachael Ray Designed a Gin Around Olives and E.V.O.O. And it's Delicious in a Martini

Rachael Ray has long been one of the most famous people in the American food scene, which makes it all the more striking that the gin she released in 2024 doesn’t prominently feature her face or name.

“I didn’t want to put me on the bottle...If somebody doesn’t like me, I still want them to like our product,” she told the crowd at the recent Distilled Spirits Council of the United State’s Annual Conference, the industry’s national trade association and policy voice.

Ray set out to make a bold, savory gin—one that could hold its own in a Gibson and carry the silky feel of a Castelvetrano olive. A year and a half after its debut, Staple Gin ($40) is quiet a success story—winning awards, landing on backbars, and doing it in a way that doesn’t immediately announce Ray’s involvement unless you already know to look for it.

And that’s largely the point. In a spirits landscape where plenty of celebrity‑backed bottles are just endorsement deals, while a smaller subset are genuinely thoughtful, Ray’s approach stands out for how little she wanted the spotlight. 

The collaboration began with a chance introduction to Brian Facquet, co-founder of Do Good Spirits in Roscoe, New York. Ray is from upstate; Facquet distills there. They hit it off. 

When Ray handed him her first draft of a “recipe,” Facquet recognized that turning a cook’s palate into a distiller’s process would be its own kind of puzzle.  “A chef works with ingredients in their natural form, while a distiller has to understand how those ingredients behave once they’re exposed to heat and vapor,” he said. “Botanicals can taste completely different after distillation.”

Ray wrote her initial formula the same way she’d write a dinner segment for a TV show. Facquet then spent months translating that into something that could survive the still.

 “Over the course of six months, I ran more than 100 test distillations,” Facquet said. Some botanicals didn’t behave. Some combinations collapsed under heat. The formula evolved run by run. The turning point came during a conversation about texture. Ray was describing the oil released by a Castelvetrano olive. She called it “sexy,” and that single word shifted Facquet’s thinking.

“That comment triggered something for me,” he said. “Instead of trying to capture the taste of the olive, I started thinking about how to capture the feel of it—the richness and texture it brings to a cocktail.”

London Dry Style Gin With a New York Personality

Facquet insisted that the gin stay rooted in place. “It was important that Staple remained unmistakably a New York agricultural product,” he said. To his point, the base of the gin is a neutral grain spirit made completely from New York grown corn. He also uses water from the nearby Pepacton watershed, which feeds New York City’s reservoir system.

The flavor is a take off on classic London Dry style with a mix of botanicals, including juniper, coriander, orris, bitter orange, bergamot peel. But the personality of the gin mirrors Ray’s own tastes by adding locally grown tarragon, Castelvetrano olives and extra virgin olive oil (AKA E.V.O.O) to the botanical mix. “Staple makes a deliberate choice to be bold,” Facquet said. “It opens savory, moves into sweetness and spice, then into bitterness, and finishes with a lingering umami character.”

Gibson, which is essentially a Martini with a cock onion, is the brand's signature serve. “That savory structure and silky texture pair naturally with the onion garnish and allow the gin to carry the entire drink in a really elegant way,” Facquet said. “With Staple it feels completely new again.” 

A Spirit Designed for Cooking

Ray uses the gin the way she cooks with wine—only louder. “When you cook with spirits, you’re intensifying all of the flavors. It’s a win‑win,” she said. Her shrimp scampi, with garlic, anchovy, olive oil, and a splash of Staple, has become a favorite.

“Because Staple leans slightly savory and carries that silky olive oil texture, those flavors integrate beautifully into dishes like shrimp scampi,” Facquet said. “Instead of overpowering a dish, the gin behaves almost like a seasoning—adding depth, aromatics, and richness.”

And the final recipe of the gin was achieved in a large part because Ray was able to allow another cook in the kitchen. Facquet recalled Ray telling him, “you’re the distiller. I’m the cook. I trust your palate,” he said “That level of trust made it possible to push the gin in a clear direction.”